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Choose Perennial Flowers as Important Foundation Plants for Your Garden
© Donald Reinhardt, May 2, 2011
Perennials are year-after-year plants that remain, or return after a resting phase, to adorn the garden for many years. Properly selected and planted perennials are a joy to cultivate and behold.
Perennial Plants – A Logical Plan for Selection, Choosing, Placement – What to Do and How to Do It
There are many perennials to choose from among hundreds of possibilities. For proper perennial selection the gardener should consider location and placement, mature heights and shapes of the plants and colors. This means that the following steps are in order:
  1. Obtain a comprehensive, authoritative and detailed perennial plant book as a reference if you are planning a large garden with many plants. If you have a small garden, a simpler perennial book will suffice. Make sure the book illustrates the plant, shows height, color and flowering times. Consider plant zones or regions for survival of selected perennials. Some overwinter well, other do not.  
  2. Make a list of a few or many perennials that are potentially useful or needed for your garden. Consider tall plants for the background and smaller plants in the foreground. Pay particular attention to color and bloom times. Some perennials bloom only at narrow or select times so be careful to consider those times and plan to have a succession of plant blooms in the garden from early spring, through the hot summer and into the fall season.
  3. Consider the best supplier(s) from among many for your perennial plants and make sure that you have a guarantee of one year which is the standard for all perennials by reputable garden centers. Remember to save the dated receipt. Some garden supply houses and garden centers and nurseries actually give a lifetime replacement warranty for their perennial plants. That is an outstanding guarantee. 
  4.  Plant your perennials in proper and good places, with appropriate soil and at the right depth, and water as needed. Once the plants have rooted, fertilize according to directions and prepare to enjoy many years of rewarding, perennial gardening.

  • photo of paintings of Wildflowers – Classic Prairie & Garden Flowers of Spring, Summer and Fall. Sunflowers, cornflowers, Coreopsis, Echinacea, Lilium, anemones, roses and morning glories all find their place in the sun as either perennials or annuals. Grow a classic, easy-care garden and reap visual and intellectual delights. Photo credit to Herbert Hoover Presidential Library & Museum Archives, U. S.